phrasuthon

Iam not English speaking person and if I make some mistakes please don't blame me for that.

Few month ago I put some comments here about Air Canada and Air Canada rouge. The story was..... I fly only Star Alliance since 9 years. I have never tried Air Canada before, so I decided to change that and finally try to fly Air Canada. My final destination was Alaska. I booked business class ticket to be only sure I get 100% miles into my account. After payment, few weeks later Air Canada changed my original ticket. Instead of flying Air Canada, my reservation showed me Air Canada Rouge AC1888 YVR-ANC. This is a huge problem for me as a other card holder of different Star Alliance millage program. I felt cheated. Air Canada tried to change also my booking class from Z to P but I couldn't let them do that. This P business class fare is another problem and another story. So, I didn't want to fly over Seattle or Chicago with United, because after my loong expirience with United this airline is out of my recommendation. I didn't change Air Canada Rouge connection and left reservation like that. Then I started google to get some more information about that new Rouge airline. At the beginning I started with Skytrax. What a surprise to see they are out of any classification together with Air Koryo. Many complaints and disappointments.

Also at this forum I read some terrible stories how awful that airline is. I also found link to TV channel how the people are suing Air Canada for downgrades and bad Rouge customer service. So I thought what a disaster, do I have to fly this ....? Under the next i put some pictures and some comments about my expireince with Air Canada Rouge, Premium Rouge Class.

Flight AC1888 YVR-ANC and AC1889 YVR-ANC.

Seats:

As European we all have seats standards like a Premium Rouge. LO, LX, LH, OS, SN, SK etc all of thier business class looks like Premium Rouge on European flights. Flights not longer than 2,5-3h. Amercians are taught to have First class bigger seats and we European are taught to have free of charge meal in Economy class
This is what I have seen:
3 standard economy class seats on both sides (one in the middle is always empty) Every passenger has big white cushion and blanket.





The space between seats is the same as their website says. I measured that space



Cabin crew

AC Rouge has young group of flight attendants.
Flight AC1888
During my boarding two girls welcomed me and other passengers. I understand that they want to make contact with a passenger but asking every second or third person where are you from? Holiday or work? etc. I think this kind of manner is useless. I wonder we were delayed that time.
Safety demonstration
Well done. Demo was understandable, both in English and French.
Service
These flight attendants were just hopeless cases. They are all not prepared to work with business class passenger. They were not available for Premium rouge passengers. Instead of focusing on job they just closed a curtain and they were giggling for the rest of the flight on the back side of plane or they all moved later to Premium Rouge.

Flight AC1889 ANC-YVR

After experience with previous Rouge crew this flight was 100% different. Just perfect. Stewardess Gabriell operated Premium Rouge. Fantastic, charming, modest girl. She knew exactly how business class code works. When she offered something to passengers she used thier last names. She was available during all flight. Curtain was closed but she always were in Premium Rouge to check if passengers have something to drink. She also gave us 2 kinds of Canadian newspapers which is not always common to give on whole Air Canada flights.



Other cabin crew were fine. But still some of them had problems with economy class passengers.

Meal

This depends if cabin crew can cook or not. I understand that all food is prepared in advance but at least you have to put it to the oven and DONT burn it or overcook it. Sometimes decor it too. So maybe I start commenting my returning flight AC1889 ANC-YVR because that was something different.
Air Canada Rouge has no access to Boardroom of Alaska Airlines the only one lounge available in Anchorage airport. After what offer i have seen in Boardroom on my last flight with AS I dont think so this is good idea to use it. Lounge is same worse as whole United lounges on this planet. I don't understand people who are paying for access to those lounges.
After very warm welcome, I was called by my last name and given something to drink ("champagne", water or juice) then we all got Rouge menu (I took salmon) and free of charge IPad with bad quality earphones. (Better use own if you want to listen a normal sound).







After order stewardess Gabriell brought me snacks. Famous Air Canada warm nuts and red wine.





Few minutes later I got full nice looking meal.



Fresh salad / whole wheat roll / vinaigrette dressing / butter / salt / pepper



Salmon / boiled rice / vegetables / dressing



There was absolutely no problem if you wanted change wine to a glass of white wine.





Dessert / Coffe






After meal before landing all of us got this nice Lindt chocolate




Meal on flight AC1888 Overcooked and tasteless.



This is what I have seen from Rouge window:











YVR









Good bye Rouge crew





Summary:

Air Canada Rouge as a young airline has a lot of work to improve their cabin crew skills. I always say. These all bad comments at internet are from people who got bad experience with cabin crew. Every flight with Air Canada is different. If you are lucky and your flight is operated by a real flight attendants who are always prepared for a flight they will be always a perfect label of Air Canada. That is why Star alliance Asian airlines are always on top. And If THAI or Singapore Airlines would fly to Canada, probably I would chose them as a first departure airline from Europe. In my opinion AC Rouge was much more better than one of the Air Canada domestic flights. For me Rouge problem has nothing to do with seats.

As I siad before, Iam frequent flyer of different millage program. Air Canada changed my reservation to AC Rouge. Thai airways told me AC Rouge doesn't belong to Star Alliance and I can't get miles but If Air Canada use this airline as own flight and own AC code I cant get my miles depends of booking fare. The other trick Air Canada used to cheat me again is: Air Canada Rouge code was changed from AC to ZX. ZX is not existing in Star Alliance.

Now who is telling true?: Air Canada Rouge, Air Canada, Star Alliance?

Air Canada Rouge says: but we belong to Star Alliance (that said all Rouge flight attendants plus you can see the symbol of Star alliance on thier aircrafts)





I understand that is no problem for you as a Aeroplan millage program members but for other loyal card holders there is a huge problem to get miles. As i siad before i booked Air Canada as a Star Alliance partner to get miles from these flights. Why they sold me a ticket and didn't tell me the true?

This question i think will answer me only Air Canada and Star Alliance.
The rest of my first time experience on Air Canada domestic/international flights can share here later or you can find them on my blog.


Thank you for reading
Comments welcome

SFO777

Outstanding report! phrasuthon, you've just made my day. Thank you.

Air Koryo and Rouge, together forever.

Mainline AC FAs sometimes do that as well.


That Thai agent was very smart.

From experience, generally Air Canada is the least like to tell you the truth.

What is your blog? I would love to read it. Thanks again for posting!!

Sopwith

Ben, I've been on exactly one Rouge flight, an A319 from MCO-YYZ. For me the fatal flaw is the 29" seat pitch. I'm only 5'-10" and I didn't fit. I won't be flying on any aircraft with a 29" pitch again, whether it's yours or anyone else's.

I realize you think this is necessary to be competitive, but I've mentioned in this forum before that I no longer automatically go to the AC website and book my flights. Now I look around at what else is available. I also take a careful look at SeatGuru to check out the seating before I book on an airline I'm not familiar with.

This week I went YVR - DEN return on UA. I was able to get Economy Plus seats in the bulkhead row with 35" pitch for $75 more each way. To compare, I just looked at the premium for Rouge Plus with 35" pitch for YYZ - MCO and YVR -LAX, two flights of similar length. The premium was ~$190 in one case and several hundred in the other. It is simply not competitive.

Neil791

Flight/Origin-Destination: YYZ-LAS
Date: Early 2014
Cabin: Y
Status: Star Alliance Gold

Pre departure
Was check in quick and efficient? Yes we checked in online
Was priority boarding offered (if applicable to your status) and efficient? Yes, this was as to be expected
If there was a delay, did the gate agent provide timely updates? n/a

Onboard - rouge cabin:
Were the crew professional & well groomed? The females appeared made up like they were going out for a night in a club, and the males looked like they slept in their uniform and appeared generally unkept
If there was a delay, were you provided with timely updates? n/a
Did the IFE work as expected? n/a
Approximately how long after take off did it take for the first meal service/Onboard cafe to begin? I dont recall
How was the quality of the meal/Onboard cafe? meal was standard onboard cafe quality; not great and not terrible
Did the cabin crew offer water regularly throughout the flight? cabin crew passed through one time during the meal service and one time prior to landing

Post departure
If you have checked baggage, did it arrive within reasonable period of time? n/a

Overall experience/any other comments
overall this was one of the single worst flying experiences i have ever had either in North America or elsewhere in the world. The cabin crew appeared to be more like a group of 20-something's pretending to be flight attendants and doing a pretty poor job at it. I appreciate the fact that AC apparently wants a younger and perhaps more dynamic image with Rouge but in my experience it was painfully clear that the crew was just going through the motions and trying to convince us that they knew what they were doing.

My wife asked one of the FA's for a napkin when he returned (we were seated near the front of the Y cabin) and instead of saying he would, his reply was quite straightforward in that he wasn't coming back. Needless to say both my wife and i wondered where he might be going as we were mid-flight and its not as if he could leave the plane!

I am 6'3" and my wife is 5'10" and we were both jammed into the seats (I more so than her) with absolutely no room to even shift. Thankfully the armrest on the aisle was one which could be raised as this was the only way I was able to exit the seat into the aisle.

The overall product and service in my opinion is/was quite poor especially given the fact that the price paid is comparable to other mainline carriers on the same route, but with a severe downgrade in overall experience.

I will never step foot on another Rouge plane so long as the current configuration is in place with the same inexperienced FA's pretending to do a very important job!

kwflyer

Your A319 pic looks like my flights to Cancun and down to California Glad to see you got clean pillows instead of the usual rouge stained ones.

Here in Canada, we get screwed both ways. And everyway on Sundays.

Excellent trip report!

GateGuardian

Flight/Origin-Destination: YVR-LAS
Date: June 28, 2014
Cabin: Premium Rogue, 2F
Status: None

Pre departure
Was check in quick and efficient? I was connecting from YYZ, so check in was no different than mainline
Was priority boarding offered (if applicable to your status) and efficient? Yes. Same as mainline
If there was a delay, did the gate agent provide timely updates? Yes, agent provided update about every 15min.

Onboard - Premium rouge cabin:
Were the crew professional & well groomed? Yes. Their attitude is very positive and much better than most AC mainline FA I've sen.
Did the IFE work as expected? I launched this app on my iPad without any issues. However, I didn't stream any movies as the selection was quite poor and didn't see anything that interest me.
Was a pre-departure beverage offered on the ground? Yes
Were newspapers & menus distributed and meal orders taken (Please specify when meal orders were taken - on the ground or in the air)? Order was taken after take off.
Approximately how long after take off did it take for the first meal service to be completed? About 20min, drinks and nuts were served first.
How was the quality of all the meals? Same as mainline
Did the cabin crew continiously top up the beverage of your choice throughout the flight? Yes



Overall experience/any other comments:
- WARM NUTS!!!! Please bring this to mainline
- Not enough overhead room, especially in Premium Rogue. Most people are paying extra to be in the Premium Rogue cabin, yet the overhead space is filled FA equipment. I don't have an issue on this flight putting my bag in the seat in front for this flight, but then the FA recommended the passengers in the bulkhead seats to put their bags underneath their seat, which pushes my bag out..... leaving me with no space for my bag.
- Either redesign the overhead bin space or enforce carry-on baggage policy.
- Since there's no closet, everything between the galley and cabin is just a curtain, I can hear ALL the conversation the FAs are having the galley.

ChrisA330

If there was a fare difference, you were looking at Premium rouge, not rouge Plus. rouge Plus was (prior to today's preferred seat changes) a flat fee buy up, just like UA's economy plus.

You are not comparing apples to apples.

YXXFlyer

Flight/Origin-Destination: YUL-MCO
Date: Aug 4, 2014
Cabin: J - Complimentary upgrade, oversell
Status: E75k

Pre departure
Was check in quick and efficient? - Mobile app, all OK.
Was priority boarding offered (if applicable to your status) and efficient? No issues.
If there was a delay, did the gate agent provide timely updates? NA

Onboard - Premium rouge cabin:
Were the crew professional & well groomed? Yes
If there was a delay, were you provided with timely updates? NA
Did the IFE work as expected? Received iPad way too late & collected way too early to watch a 2h movie on a 3h flight. Incredible.
Was a pre-departure beverage offered on the ground?
Were newspapers & menus distributed and meal orders taken (Please specify when meal orders were taken - on the ground or in the air)? Meal order in the air. I found overall service slow, but mostly annoyed with the ipad thing. If I'd known that rouge is part of the standard AC app for iphone, might have started watching on my phone.
How was the quality of all the meals? Like mainline.
Did the cabin crew continiously top up the beverage of your choice throughout the flight? Don't remember.

Overall experience/any other comments
I found it a lot better in Premium rouge then what I was fearing based on reports. IFE distribution, narrow seats and low pitch, even in premium rouge are a big downside compared to mainline. After being upgraded 100% on YEG-YOW-YUL-MCO I was quite happy with AC overall. Feeling sorry for all those people left behind due to oversell though, but as a new SE now I can only hope you keep it up.

Note: Most annoying part for a business traveller on ACr is the absence of power plugs... I didn't mind on this occasion, but for the return would have been annoying (if there were enough pitch to use a laptop in Y)

YXXFlyer

Flight/Origin-Destination: MCO-YYZ
Date: Aug 8, 2014
Cabin: Y
Status: E75K

Pre departure
Was check in quick and efficient? No passbook boarding pass for MCO
Was priority boarding offered (if applicable to your status) and efficient? Yes, did not use it.
If there was a delay, did the gate agent provide timely updates? NA
If there is a lounge, did you enjoy it? AC is not on the side of UA lounge, requiring double security. Really annoyed, but did it anyway to show my UA silver friend into his own lounges for once. There is really nothing on the terminal side where AC flies from, really poor.

Onboard - rouge cabin:
Were the crew professional & well groomed? Yes
If there was a delay, were you provided with timely updates? NA
Did the IFE work as expected? Yes. Although my older laptop couldn't manage to give smooth image... iphone 3gs worked ok.
Approximately how long after take off did it take for the first meal service/Onboard cafe to begin? Don't remember. I'd made sure I had decent breakfast knowing poor lounge & food-for-purchase Y service.
Did the cabin crew offer water regularly throughout the flight? I bring my own bottle.

Overall experience/any other comments
Just flight 2 on rouge, but I was already really annoyed with the "leisure" and "vacation" announcements. Although I appreciate the enthousiasm and positive tone of the messages.

I can only echo comments about old IFE content (and limited selection). I'll remember to bring my own very soon. For now, I'll pick ACr over UA in Y, but just borderline and mainly because I hope on J upgrades...

winnipegrev

That was a great report by phrasuthon, probably the best I've read on any site!

Thanks ^

Sopwith

Agreed the comparison is not apples to apples, but the point is for the flights I checked the only way to avoid the 29" seat pitch was to pay hundreds of dollars extra. Not going to happen.

Today's announcement about preferred seats is encouraging, but I haven't seen anything that would suggest it applies to Rouge.

imverge

Flight/Origin-Destination: YYZ > LIS
Date: June 25 2014
Cabin: Y
Status: None

Pre departure:

Was check in quick and efficient? Gate agents made no announcements in Portuguese. Go figure since the flight was to Lisbon!

Was priority boarding offered (if applicable to your status) and efficient?
If there was a delay, did the gate agent provide timely updates? No delay

Onboard - rouge cabin:

Were the crew professional & well groomed? Well groomed yes, but not very professional as they talked back and forth with other crew members across the aisle during serving of meals.

If there was a delay, were you provided with timely updates? No delays

Did the IFE work as expected? Brought own iPad which worked but poor selection of entertainment.

Approximately how long after take off did it take for the first meal service/Onboard cafe to begin? 1.5 hours

How was the quality of the meal/Onboard cafe? Very poor quality food, and cheap presentation. On par with hospital food.

Did the cabin crew offer water regularly throughout the flight? Just once most were huddled in the back laughing loudly while pax tried to sleep.

Post departure
If you have checked baggage, did it arrive within reasonable period of time? Yes.

Overall experience/any other comments:

On time departure & arrival was great.
The seat was fine.
The crew didn't seem to take their job very seriously.
Lots of pax were discussing at baggage belt in LIS about the loud laughing of crew in the back galley while people were trying to sleep.

lostinthewash

+1

ACYYZ/SD

His/her photography skills are to be commended!
^

nave888

Flight/Origin-Destination: YVR-LAX, LAX-YYC
Date: Aug 16, Aug 21
Cabin: Y
Status: E35K

Pre departure
Was check in quick and efficient? Yes, very. Had one bag to check each way.
Was priority boarding offered (if applicable to your status) and efficient? Yes. Very happy with this.
If there was a delay, did the gate agent provide timely updates? Return flight was delayed, and no reason was ever given. However, when there was a gate change, announcement were clearly made.

**LAX Lounge**

Lounge has no washroom, but arriving, we were told that the public washroom outside was also out of order, meaning we had to go to the main floor public washrooms. Also, for some reason, no alcohol was available in the lounge. I thought that this was quite cheap and wasn't too happy. Had I been in paid J or used a pass, I'd have been pretty annoyed here. That being said, the agents were apologetic and made some good jokes about how if only they had alcohol, nobody would care about the bathroom I think everyone in the lounge appreciated the agents' down to earth personalities.


Onboard - rouge cabin:
Were the crew professional & well groomed? Yes. Very young, but bubbly, chatty, helpful, and very pleasant to deal with. I was very impressed. The crews also helped in the aisles, making sure all carry on luggage was put in properly, ensuring minimal gate checking.
If there was a delay, were you provided with timely updates? NA
Did the IFE work as expected? Yes, and the crews were great at helping pax connect and figure out how the system worked.
Approximately how long after take off did it take for the first meal service/Onboard cafe to begin? 15 minutes.
How was the quality of the meal/Onboard cafe? Good. Same as mainline.
Did the cabin crew offer water regularly throughout the flight? Yes. Very impressed by this.

Post departure
If you have checked baggage, did it arrive within reasonable period of time? In Calgary, baggage took 45 minutes. Yes, 45. Finally, at about 35, we got an announcement saying some cable was broken, and the bags finally came. Otherwise, bags were delivered very quickly.

Overall experience/any other comments

The seats weren't bad, and for the short flights, I found the legroom to be just fine (I'm 5'8"). Also, the crews were really fantastic. They were just super nice people and seemed to go out of their way to make the flights more enjoyable. I was really worried about rouge, but pleasantly surprised. For me, its just like westjet, but with the same priority ground services I'd get on mainline AC as an Elite. I wouldn't hesitate to fly rouge again.